Toy Review - RtS Special Ops Jazz

[Vector Prime]

I haven't seen Jazz around anywhere yet.

He hasn't been released locally yet.

I dont understand why he looked so yellow in the pics. My two are white and not yellow at all.

That just means the United one is even whiter!

[1AZRAEL1]

I dont understand why he looked so yellow in the pics. My two are white and not yellow at all. As for United I just used some paint and now the Hasbro one looks the same

When you compare the 2 side by side, you can notice the difference, but on it's own, I'd say it probably looks normal.

I'm still at odds as to which one to get.

[Sharky]

i wonder if we will get a Richochet/Stepper repaint

[1AZRAEL1]

i wonder if we will get a Richochet/Stepper repaint

I hope so. I really dig that figure, even if it is only a repaint. I mean, they did a repaint for Robot Heroes

[5FDP]

OK, I think I've worked out what it is about the United version that I prefer over the RtS version - the faction symbol. In saying this I realise that the whole gimmick (in regards to RtS) is to discover which faction each character belongs to, it just doesn't work for me. So... I will be getting the Hasbro toy and placing an order with Reprolabels

i wonder if we will get a Richochet/Stepper repaint

I doubt that there will be an official Hasbro / TakTom release, but a Botcon exclusive might be a distinct possibility.

[Lord_Zed]

OK, I think I've worked out what it is about the United version that I prefer over the RtS version - the faction symbol. In saying this I realise that the whole gimmick (in regards to RtS) is to discover which faction each character belongs to, it just doesn't work for me. So... I will be getting the Hasbro toy and placing an order with Reprolabels

Yep, that was one of the things that made me decide to wait for the United version, Rubsigns are nice but I prefer faction symbols, but not so much as stickers.

The other criteria of course was the white, the Hasbro one looks plenty fine to me as did Drift, but then I saw United Drift.

[Sutton]

Just a quick write-up for Mr Jazz...

Jazz has been a long time coming, one of the quintessential G1 characters and one of the only 1984 Autobot cars to not get repainted 2 or 3 times (in the initial few years at least) - probably one of the reasons it's taken Hasbro so long to produce him, it's hard to convince the bean-counters if there aren't any viable repaints to run with. An ugly Ricochet repaint will no doubt happen at some point, or worse yet, Zoom-Zoom!!!

Robot mode is good and captures all the major design cues of the original animation model. Poseability is excellent and the figure has a lot of personality. There's a nice large footprint that makes him very stable, and the arms and legs are attached well and don't pop off all the time lending good playability for the kiddies. There's some nasty mold-flash on the front of both shins similar to the front bonnet of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe - it looks sloppy and rushed. They've paid good attention to the mold detailing, particularly the hips - little things like that are appreciated. The speaker gimmick is ok, although I probably would have preferred them to have included the missile launcher from the original toy. Paint apps are strangely lacking however. There is something 'off' about the colour overall. It could just be because of the slightly pearlescent white plastic that Hasbro's used, but the lack of paint apps doesn't help.The headlights being dark blue rather than the more standard clear plastic doesn't help. Plus, the gap where his head folds through is quite big, and takes away a large portion of the racing stripe on his chest. A better solution would have been to include some faux-bonnet that flips up with the head to plug the gap. It still looks enough like Jazz overall. The automorph that swings the head into place works well enough, although the chest and backpack doesn't lock in convincingly enough for my liking.

Vehicle mode is a good representation of a Not-Porsche - the spoiler is in a particularly odd position to help avoid any legal issues, and adds a slight hint of Burgatti Veyron. He holds together well in this mode, although it can be tricky to get the two parts of the number '4' on the bonnet to align. The miserly paint apps are much more of a problem here than in robot mode, the back end of the car has basically been forgotten altogether. It's especially noticeable when compared to other cars in the classics line who generally have rear brake lights as a minimum. Jazz is an accident waiting to happen for drivers approaching from the rear. Maybe he removed them to help be more stealthy during night missions? It's nothing that a quick paint touch-up can't fix but annoying nonetheless. I thought that it may have been due to the transformation possibly rubbing where the brake lights would be but this isn't the case - it's just cheapness on Hasbro's part. The racing stripe isn't as well defined as the original either, and the lack of 'Martini' racing sponsorship doesn't help. Surely some clever alternative could have been found like in Mirage's case (Sparkplug) - what about 'Matrix Racing'? I feel like the front grill could have used some painty love too. On the plus side the doors aren't sticky in the same creepy way that Prowl's were.

The speakers attach with the same 3mm clips that Darkmount, Skullgrin, Wreckgar and Tracks use - I'm not sure what Hasbro's trying to achieve here, clearly trying to make some sort of secondary modular weapon system similar to the classic 5mm hole, but they haven't really promoted the fact that the weapons are interchangeable. It doesn't help that they're strangely spreading the classics figures across the RTS and Generations line. Straxus looks pretty mean rockin' a surround sound on his shoulder pylons! It has to be said that the combined gun mode looks completely daft.

Despite all the niggles, Jazz is still a strong figure and pretty much essential for any G1 fan - the cynic in me thinks that this may be why Hasbro cheaped out on the paint apps, since he was a sure-fire sale anyway. A paint brush seems to be as essential to the adult collector these days as clear nail varnish, but at the end of the day these are kids toys with added adult fan service rather than serious high-end collector pieces. With that in mind, Jazz is a pretty good toy overall.

[GoktimusPrime]

There's a nice large footprint that makes him very stable, and the arms and legs are attached well and don't pop off all the time lending good playability for the kiddies.

Please don't assume that only children play with their toys. There are plenty of adult collectors who play with toys too. (-_-) Play value is something that is appreciated by many adult collectors too, not just kids. Kthx.

The speaker gimmick is ok, although I probably would have preferred them to have included the missile launcher from the original toy. Paint apps are strangely lacking however.

The miserly paint apps are much more of a problem here than in robot mode, the back end of the car has basically been forgotten altogether. It's especially noticeable when compared to other cars in the classics line who generally have rear brake lights as a minimum. Jazz is an accident waiting to happen for drivers approaching from the rear. Maybe he removed them to help be more stealthy during night missions? It's nothing that a quick paint touch-up can't fix but annoying nonetheless. I thought that it may have been due to the transformation possibly rubbing where the brake lights would be but this isn't the case - it's just cheapness on Hasbro's part.

That could be due to the addition of the speakers. Hasbro are really tight with their budget - they will literally remove certain details, even if it's just a drop of paint, if it has some kind of 'bonus' feature. So it wouldn't surprise me if paint apps were sacrificed for those speakers.

[Sutton]

That could be due to the addition of the speakers. Hasbro are really tight with their budget - they will literally remove certain details, even if it's just a drop of paint, if it has some kind of 'bonus' feature. So it wouldn't surprise me if paint apps were sacrificed for those speakers.

Which would be another reason to do away with the speakers IMHO

It could just be because of the large stripe covering so much of the car mode, if you look at most car modes in the classics range, that stripe alone is more paint coverage than is on most figures.

[GoktimusPrime]

Which would be another reason to do away with the speakers IMHO

I agree. The speakers do nothing for me, especially as someone who prefers the G1 comics over the cartoon. Having a rifle or missile launcher would've been way cooler. The speakers reek of "Gee-Wun" appeal to me. (Just my perspective)